ToM Gist: Fetty Wap Knew What His First Three Hits Would Be From The Beginning

Fetty Wap was probably the biggest success story of 2015, going from relative unknown to having 4 songs in the Billboard top 40. He’s had some time to reflect on his immediate success now, and he talked to the Daily Show’s Trevor Noah about his post-fame life for Interview magazine.

The two spoke about Fetty’s loyalty to the friends he grew up with, his terrifying motorcycle accident, and his prediction that “Trap Queen,” “679,” and “My Way,” would be the first songs to pop.

Read some excerpts from the story below, and check out the full thing here. Click through the gallery to see the amazing photos from the shoot.

On his predicting his hit singles:

In an interview way back, when I first started, I told people, “It’s going to be ‘Trap Queen,’ ‘679,’ and ‘My Way.’ ”I ain’t think “Again” was going to be how it’s going. And then it was like: “Trap Queen” just went platinum; “679” is right behind it; then “My Way.” And when they interviewed me the next time, I’d say, “I told y’all it was going to happen in this exact way.” I don’t believe in doubt; I’ve never doubted myself.

On employing his pre-fame friends:

I started a business for my security to make sure that they could carry everywhere. I took everybody from the streets—they all get checks because of what they do for me, down to my cameraman. I love everybody that’s with me. All these dudes from Paterson—nothing happen to none of us. We won’t go to jail. I make sure we don’t. We don’t stand on no corners. Ain’t nobody carrying when they ain’t supposed to be carrying. We don’t pose with guns in the videos; we don’t leave guns in the house. You’ll never see Fetty Wap posting no videos with no guns.

On his accident:

My accident was on, I think, a Suzuki? It was a little big, and it was my first time riding. I ride dirt bikes. I was like, “Oh, shit, I think I like this motorcycle thing.” So I bought a motorcycle. And then I was riding to go see my son, and somebody in their car … It was as if they were trying to hit me. I hit the brake, and the bike slid, and as the impact came, I jumped off the bike, and that’s how I saved myself.